State Standards:

GSE PS3 (7-8)-8 - Motion

Students demonstrate an understanding of motion by…
  • 8c differentiating among speed, velocity and acceleration

National Standards:

Context of Lesson:

This is the final lesson on acceleration. It builds directly off of the previous lesson. Students have learned about constant motion and have practiced measuring it, and they have even learned about changing velocities. Now students are going to partake in an exploration activity to practice measuring acceleration. In the previous lesson, students gained some background knowledge about Galileo and his experiments. They learned about his inclined plane experiment, now they are going to test his experiment to measure the acceleration due to gravity. This will conclude the instructional lesson in the motion unit and provide the students will a solid foundation to move onto forces.

Opportunities to Learn:

Depth of Knowledge


Prerequisite Knowledge

  • Acceleration
  • Velocity
  • metric units

Plans for Differentiating Instruction

  • This activity is designed as group activity that allows students to work together in a hands-on method.
  • Students will also be asked to make some calculations and conclusions based on their data.
  • Cognitive distribution will allow all students to be successful.

Accommodations and modifications

  • There are few modifications that would be required for this lab.
  • Students are working in groups to help those students that are lower performing.
  • Students that are not capable of higher level cognitive skills will not be given analytical questions that they cannot be successful at.

Environmental factors

  • .The opening will be whole class discussion
  • Students will break into groups for the lab activity.
  • Students will work at different stations around the room to perform their experiment.

Materials

  • Marbles
  • Ramps
  • Stop watches
  • Meter stick
  • Lab activity handout
  • White board

Objectives:

  • Students will complete a lab activity to make inferences based on the factors that influence the acceleration of an object.

Instruction:

Opening:

  • Students will hand in homework from the previous lesson.
  • "If we roll a ball down a ramp, where will the ball be going the fastest?"
  • Discuss.
  • Teacher introduces today's activity.

Engagement:

  • Students are broken into groups of three or four.
  • Teacher explains the activity and hands out the materials.
  • Students work independently, while the teacher walks around assisting.

Closure:

  • Teacher ends the class with five minutes remaining.
  • Review the lab activity.
  • "What did you observe in this lab?"
  • 'What factors affected the acceleration of your marble?"

Assessment:

  • Completion of the lab activity handout. To be graded.

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